Category Archives: Veganism/Vegetarianism

Besides the two lecturedays in Drenthe (15 September: consciousness and emotions in animals, and 6 October: introduction to animal ethics), this autumn the Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science – IAPS will also organize three Animal Lecturedays in Amsterdam. During these days I will present the following three subjects: the recent research on the intelligence of dogs, consciousness and emotions in animals, and an introduction to animal ethics. The lecturedays are held for all those interested in expanding their knowledge about the intelligence of dogs or the consciousness and emotions of animals, and those who want to increase their knowledge and think about animal ethics. We start at eleven o’clock in the morning and continue until half past five in the afternoon, including a vegan lunch. As usual, the lecturedays will be enlivened by lots of pictures and interesting short videos. At the end of the day you will receive a certificate from the Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science. Below you will find the information about the three lecturedays. Note that all lecturedays will be held in the Dutch language.

Saturday 21 September: Animal Lectureday 1: Recent research on the intelligence of dogs.

Description:

How clever are dogs?

In the past 19 years many new and exciting studies have been carried out on the intelligence or cognition of dogs. Special institutes for intelligence research with dogs have been set up at universities all over the world: the Family Dog Project at the University of Budapest (Adam Miklosi), the department of Comparative and Developmental Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthroplogy at the University of Leipzig (Juliane Kaminski and Michael Tomasello), the Clever Dog Lab at the University of Vienna (Ludwig Huber), and the Duke Canine Cognition Center at Duke University in the USA (Brian Hare). During this lectureday I will present and discuss the results of all these recent studies with dogs. Central themes are the social and physical intelligence of dogs. Subjects that will be presented are, amongst others: Do dogs understand what humans see, hear or know? Do dogs understand human communicative signals, such as pointing and gaze direction? What do dogs learn by social observation, is there evidence for imitation in dogs? How much evidence exists regarding empathy in dogs? What are the results of language research with dogs? Are dogs able to understand human words? What does dogs’ physical intelligence consists of, what do they know about their physical environment? Are dogs aware that objects keep existing (object permanence), can dogs count? How do they behave in exciting studies such as the magic cup? This lectureday will give you a good review of the current state of affairs of our scientific knowledge about the intelligence of dogs. This will probably change your own view of what dogs are capable of in terms of intelligence.

During this lectureday we will address the question whether other animals besides humans have the ability to experience things like pain and pleasure. Are animals robots without subjective experiences or do animals experience sensations and other things just like us in a phenomenally conscious way? The French philosopher René Descartes claimed that nonhuman animals could not be conscious. Behaviorism in psychology also led to a taboo on the subject of consciousness in general. Even today there are still scholars who do not ascribe consciousness to animals, often based on the absence of ‘higher’ cognitive abilities and language. In contrast are positions that argue for the presence of consciousness in animals by argueing from analogy, using systematic analyses of the nervous systems and behaviours of animals. I will present the work of Jaak Panksepp on affective neuroscience, which shows that at least all mammals, and birds too, share a number of brain centers for the same emotional systems. I will also discuss the various emotions of dogs and other animals. Which particular emotions do they have? Pleasure, pain, jealousy, guilt, gratitude? How important are affection and love in the lives of animals? Which animals seem to mourn deceased conspecifics? Can rats, dogs and apes laugh? Can animals have emotional traumas? And what similarities exist between humans and other animals with regard to altered states of consciousness, such as dreaming and being under the influence of psychoactive medication and drugs?

On this lectureday I will give a review of the most important schools of thought in animal ethics. After a short introduction to philosophy and ethics, and the history of moral thought about nonhuman animals, the most important current philosophers will be presented: Peter Singer and his utilitarian ethics of animal liberation. Tom Regan, who argues for animal rights from a deontological perspective. Philosophers who argue that the presence of sentience or consciousness is sufficient condition for equal moral consideration, such as Gary Francione. Philosophers who make a moral distinction between humans and other animals based on the capacity for language (Frey, Carruthers). Feminist animal ethics which looks at animals with the concepts of care and dialogue. And finally, deep ecology, in which humans and other animals are part of the biosphere. The following questions will be discussed, among others: Is the capacity for self-awareness relevant for the ways in which an animal should be treated? Are some animals replaceable? How can we discern speciesism, discrimination based on species? What are the arguments for equality among all animals? Do all living beings have an inherent value? What should one do if one is in a lifeboat with 3 other humans and 1 dog and one individual has to be thrown overboard in order not to sink the lifeboat? After this presentation of the various schools of thought and positions in animal ethics, a practical part will follow. The participants at the lectureday will be assigned to the most important animal ethics positions. We will then discuss several moral questions or dilemmas and the participants will then have to apply the reasoning of the particular animal ethics position they have been assigned to, to the specific moral dilemma. Examples of these moral dilemmas are the keeping of animals in captivity, like in zoos, but also the recent issues regarding the large herbivores that have been placed in human constructed nature areas such as the Oostvaardersplassen: Is it morally justified not to feed these animals, but cull them during severe winters?

For whom? The Animal Lecturedays are organized for people who work with animals professionally, for students, and for anyone interested in animals and eager to broaden their knowledge about them. A specific former education is not required. The lecturedays will be given in the Dutch language, but a passive knowledge of English is convenient, given that some of the films that I will show are not subtitled.

Practical information. All lecturedays will start at 11.00 o’clock in the morning and will end at 17.30 in the afternoon. The costs for attending are 60 euros per person for each lectureday. The registration fee for students (with a student ID card) is 40 euros for each lectureday. This price includes a (vegan) lunch and coffee and tea. People who register for all three lecturedays will get a discount and will pay 160 euros in total. Students who register for all three lecturedays will pay 100 euros in total.

Location: Madame de Pompadour, Langsom 28 in Amsterdam. This location is very well accessible both by car (there is even free parking!) and by public transport.

You can attend all three Animal Lecturedays or one or two of your own choice. You can register by sending a message to estebanyes@gmail.com or by filling out the form below:

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In December I will organize these three Animal Lecturedays at a location in the east or south of The Netherlands. Further information will follow.

After the succesfull lectureday about the intelligence of dogs, last April in the province of Drenthe, there was a need for more lecturedays by me. I will return to the Nothern provinces of The Netherlands with two new lecturedays. One about the consciousness and the emotional lives of dogs and other animals. And a day about animal ethics, in which we will discuss the various points of view that exist with regard to the question of how we should treat other animals. The lecturedays are held for all those interested in enriching their knowledge about the consciousness and emotions of animals and who want to increase their knowledge and think about animal ethics. The lecturedays will be held in Zwiggelte in the province of Drenthe. We start at eleven o’clock in the morning and continue until half past five in the afternoon. As usual, the lecturedays will be enlivened by lots of pictures and interesting short videos. At the end of the day you will receive a certificate from the Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science. Below you will find the information about both lecturedays. Note that both lecturedays will be held in the Dutch language.

During this lectureday we will address the question whether other animals besides humans have the ability to experience things like pain and pleasure. Are animals robots without subjective experiences or do animals experience sensations and other things just like us in a phenomenally conscious way? The French philosopher René Descartes claimed that nonhuman animals could not be conscious. Behaviorism in psychology also led to a taboo on the subject of consciousness in general. Even today there are still scholars who do not ascribe consciousness to animals, often based on the absence of ‘higher’ cognitive abilities and language. In contrast are positions that argue for the presence of consciousness in animals by argueing from analogy, using systematic analyses of the nervous systems and behaviours of animals. I will present the work of Jaak Panksepp on affective neuroscience, which shows that at least all mammals, and birds too, share a number of brain centers for the same emotional systems. I will also discuss the various emotions of dogs and other animals. Which particular emotions do they have? Pleasure, pain, jealousy, guilt, gratitude? How important are affection and love in the lives of animals? Which animals seem to mourn deceased conspecifics? Can rats, dogs and apes laugh? Can animals have emotional traumas? And what similarities exist between humans and other animals with regard to altered states of consciousness, such as dreaming and being under the influence of psychoactive medication and drugs?

Sunday 6 October: Lectureday “Introduction to animal ethics.”

How should we relate to other animals?

On this lectureday I will give a review of the most important schools of thought in animal ethics. After a short introduction to philosophy and ethics, and the history of moral thought about nonhuman animals, the most important current philosophers will be presented: Peter Singer and his utilitarian ethics of animal liberation. Tom Regan, who argues for animal rights from a deontological perspective. Philosophers who argue that the presence of sentience or consciousness is sufficient condition for equal moral consideration, such as Gary Francione. Philosophers who make a moral distinction between humans and other animals based on the capacity for language (Frey, Carruthers). Feminist animal ethics which looks at animals with the concepts of care and dialogue. And finally, deep ecology, in which humans and other animals are part of the biosphere. The following questions will be discussed, among others: Is the capacity for self-awareness relevant for the ways in which an animal should be treated? Are some animals replaceable? How can we discern speciesism, discrimination based on species? What are the arguments for equality among all animals? Do all living beings have an inherent value? What should one do if one is in a lifeboat with 3 other humans and 1 dog and one individual has to be thrown overboard in order not to sink the lifeboat? After this presentation of the various schools of thought and positions in animal ethics, a practical part will follow. The participants at the lectureday will be assigned to the most important animal ethics positions. We will then discuss several moral questions or dilemmas and the participants will then have to apply the reasoning of the particular animal ethics position they have been assigned to, to the specific moral dilemma. Examples of these moral dilemmas are the keeping of animals in captivity, like in zoos, but also the recent issues regarding the large herbivores that have been placed in human constructed nature areas such as the Oostvaardersplassen: Is it morally justified not to feed these animals, but cull them during severe winters?

Practical information. The Lecturedays are organized for people who work with animals professionally, for students, and for anyone interested in animals and eager to broaden their knowledge about them. A specific former education is not required. The lecturedays will be given in the Dutch language, but a passive knowledge of English is convenient, given that some of the films that I will show are not subtitled. Both lecturedays will start at 11.00 o’clock in the morning and will end at 17.30 in the afternoon. They will be held at Logement In Den Groene Specht, Hoofdstraat 13 in Zwiggelte, province of Drenthe. Zwiggelte can be reached from most places in the four northern provinces within 100 kilometers. It can only be reached by car, but if you are dependent on public transport we can probably arrange something for you. Registration fee: 55 euro for each lectureday. For students (with a student ID card) the fee is 35 euro for each lectureday. This includes coffee and tea, and a lunch (vegetarian or vegan lunch can be arranged). For those interested, there is also a possibility to have an informal dinner with me afterwards. In order to register, send a message to estebanyes@gmail.com or by filling out the form below:

A few weeks ago I have made a new blog, especially dedicated to veganism. I have been a vegan since I was 17. At that time I was already a vegetarian and feared I could never be vegan, because I enjoyed milk a lot. I then tried vegan substitutes for cows’ milk and found out that food could be just as good without any animal produce. Though being vegan can be good for your health, I am vegan because of moral reasons. I consider it most plausible that all nonhuman animals have some form of consciousness or sentience (“phenomenal consciousness” in the terminology of the British philosopher Ned Block), in the sense that they are able to experience states such as pleasure and pain. I then depart from a deontological egalitarian ethics, arguing that we should treat all animals with consciousness or sentience equally. Given the fact that humans can live perfectly healthy without animal produce, I believe that there are no sound arguments for consuming animals for their meat or dairy. For more information about my opinions on animal consciousness and animal ethics, I refer to my articles on my profile at Academia.edu.

The new blog is called Esteban’s Vegan Side and will contain a discussion of the moral arguments for veganism. Most of all, though, I will publish tasty and delicious vegan recipes. There is still a lot of prejudice out there, considering vegan cooking to be bland and tasteless. I want to show instead that vegan cooking can be surprisingly tasty and good to the palate. I have cooked vegan food for many people who were not vegan, and they always comment how wonderfully surprised they are when they eat my vegan meals. The posts on this blog will be both in English and in Dutch.

I have already posted three recipes on my vegan blog. One for a Moroccan risotto, one for a Spanish gazpacho soup drink, and one for an Indian eggplant curry (Baingan Bartha). I have many more recipes to post. If you’re curious, take a look at my blog!

In 1997 I edited a book about animal consciousness and animal ethics, together with my co-editors Marcel Dol, Kasanmoentalib, Susanne Lijmbach and Ruud van den Bos. We gave it the title Animal consciousness and animal ethics. Perspectives from the Netherlands, published by Van Gorcum in Assen, The Netherlands. In the book scientists and philosophers from The Netherlands wrote a chapter about the issues of animal consciousness and animal ethics. My own contribution was called Psychological complexity and animal ethics: Choosing between hierarchy and equality and discussed the positions in animal ethics of the famous philosophers Peter Singer, Tom Regan and Donald VanDeVeer. I ended up criticizing all of them actually, in that I argue for a view where only phenomal consciousness or sentience is the necessary condition for inherent value and therefore an egalitarianism for all sentient animals is called for. Equal treatment of all sentient animals in practical terms means we stop using nonhuman animals for food or for entertainment purposes such as circuses, stop experimenting on them and stop taking away their liberty such as in zoos.

Today I scanned the chapter from the book and uploaded it to my profile on Academia.edu, a great network site of academicians. You can read and download almost all my publications there. My dissertation, my articles in academic journals and several powerpoint presentations of lectures that I gave about my work with the signing chimpanzees. Click here to go directly to my chapter on animal ethics. Have fun reading and let me know what you think!

Addition from May 28, 2010: The whole book Animal Consciousness and Animal Ethicsis now available as a Google Book. You can read it here, but not download it.

Last Friday I bought new nonleather walking shoes. They are made of a material called vegetan. As a vegan/vegetarian it is quite difficult to find good quality nonleather shoes in the stores. Luckily at the end of 2008 a shop was opened in Amsterdam which specializes exactly in providing nonleather shoes, jackets and other clothes for vegans and vegetarians. The shop is called Vega-Life and is located right in the center of Amsterdam. For more information, check out their website: vega-life.nl

On Thursday April 9, 2015 a 1-day symposium will be held at Maastricht University (The Netherlands), called Humans, Animals and Nature: A Sustainable Relationship? Organized by the Maastricht University Graduate School of Sustainability Science (MUST) and its Founding Director professor of “Sustainable Development” Pim Martens. The symposium will feature con […]

On Monday 16th of June 2014 the seminar Animal behaviour, cognition & welfare will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel. The 1-day seminar is organised by AnimalConcepts in collaboration with the Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science and is hosted by Tel Aviv University. How much do we really know about animal minds? How […]

Saturday 8 February ape expert dr. Esteban Rivas and dolphin expert dr. Justin Gregg will organise the third and last seminar in the Apes & Dolphins Seminar Series at the Free University in Amsterdam. This time the seminar will be wholly dedicated to the moral status of great apes and dolphins. Are they morally special […]

In 2014 the Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science is organising for the first time Animal Lectures in English for an international audience. In these lectures psychologist and philosopher dr. Esteban Rivas will present up-to-date reviews of the current scientific state of affairs regarding the consciousness, emotions, and intelligence of nonhuman a […]

On Saturday, February 8th, 2014 the third and last seminar in the Apes & Dolphins Seminar Series will take place in Amsterdam. This time the seminar will be dedicated to the moral status of great apes and dolphins. Are apes and dolphins morally special? Or maybe they’re not? Join ape behavior expert Esteban Rivas from the Institute for […]

Finally some time for a new vegan recipe! I have had many requests for a vegan recipe of a typical Dutch soup: split pea soup! A vegan split pea soup is in fact really easy to make, by simply leaving out meat from traditional recipes. Split pea soup is delicious now we’re in Fall again […]

This is a great vegan recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I found it on the website VegKitchen, which has loads of good recipes for the holidays and beyond. I’m making this recipe for Christmas this year. It’s based on the stuffing meat-eating Americans put into a dead turkey, but for this recipe you don’t have […]

I was surfing the net recently for vegan pasta recipes and found this delicious recipe for pasta with a tomato and capers sauce. It’s from the German website Veganwelt by Ullrykka, which contains over 2,000 vegan recipes. Click here to go to her website. I have adapted her recipe for this sauce only slightly. The […]

I recently found a very appetizing looking recipe on VegWeb.com by Caroline Disko from Ontario, Canada, for pasta shells with walnut stuffing. My mouth was watering when I read the recipe, so I decided to make it myself. However, I could not find the jumbo pasta shells for the original recipe anywhere here in Amsterdam […]

One of my favourite foods is Indian food. Given the hinduistic tradition of the subcontinent, the Indian kitchen contains many vegan and vegetarian recipes. This recipe is for an eggplant curry, spicy and tasty. Ingredients (for 2 persons) 2 large eggplants 1 onion 2 tomatoes 1 red bell pepper 2 red or green chilli peppers […]